Honey as Versatile Remedy: A Focus on Selected Honeys

Abstract

Introduction: Honey is one of the oldest traditional medicines. It has been well known that honey contains various components that could be use as treatment option. Most commonly studied honeys include gelam, kelulut, acacia, tualang and pineapple honeys. This review listed the five most commonly studied honeys, its properties and the study model involved. Results: Honey has been reported to have multiple properties. Honeys were used to study their antimicrobial properties which includes antibacterial and antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-ulcer and wound healing, anticancer properties. Interestingly, tualang honey was used to study cognitive function and also used to study its ability to function as an adjuvant. Gelam honey and tualang honey both have been studied to determine their effects on fertility. From these five honeys reviewed, the most studied honey is tualang honey that showed significant impact not only on general health being and wound healoing, but also on cancer, inflammation, infection, oxidative stress, cognitive function as well as potential adjuvant. The studies were carried out on different study model from cell lines (in vitro) animal such as Sprague-dawley rats and Wistar albino rats and also human. Conclusion: Honey is a natural compound with significant impact on health and general well-being. These effects might be due to its phenolics and flavonoid content as well as its involvement as signalling molecule that initiates the possible mechanism that needs to be further clarified in the future in treating and preventing diseases.